WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange weighed in on the U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning verdict Tuesday, saying the conviction of a whistleblower “is a dangerous precedent and an example of national security extremism.”

Manning was acquitted on the charge of aiding the enemy, but was found guilty of espionage, theft and other charges for sending classifed material to WikiLeaks and could face a maximum of 136 years in prison.

“It is a short sighted judgment that can not be tolerated and must be reversed,” Assange said in a statement. “It can never be that conveying true information to the public is ’espionage’.”

“The only ’victim’ was the US government’s wounded pride, but the abuse of this fine young man was never the way to restore it,” he continued. “Rather, the abuse of Bradley Manning has left the world with a sense of disgust at how low the Obama administration has fallen. It is not a sign of strength, but of weakness.”

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Perry is a News Writer for Talking Points Memo based in Washington D.C. Prior to TPM, she was a reporter-research at The New Republic and worked for her hometown paper, The Miami Herald. Perry can be reached at perry@talkingpointsmemo.com.